Gear (11)

Today I write about something special. Eliteclimb Raptor - lightweight ice axes from carbon fibers. I had the honor to test one of the first prototypes of this tools and some of my ideas are in new Raptors. In this text, I will write something about this ice tools and answer the question: Is this Raptor for You?

Mountain boots are one of the most important - and often most expensive - pieces of equipment, so carefully think about them. If they are mismatched, too hot or too cold, your climbing will lose a lot for pleasure :-).

At the beginning of May, I received for testing a Marmot down sleeping bag Never Winter Long. This sleeping bag is Anatomically. Filled with duck down 650 CUI. It is dedicated to a temperature of 3.1 / -2.2 / -18 ° C.

It spent a few nights in a tent in Sokoły, some also were used on the go. However, this is still not enough so I could write about it specifically, so hence a form of "first impressions". The manufacturer's description below, and finally I put my observations.

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For climbing trip to Canada I took the shoes The North Face Verto Extreme S6K. I was expecting to -15 / -25 ° C and hard ice/mixed climbing, where shoes with inner boots will be ideal. Life, however, somewhat verified to use them in the field and an exceptionally warm winter meant that the temperature hovered around -5 / 15 ° C. Fortunately, at the last moment I took TNF Verto S6K Glacier GTX (review here).

Climbing harnesses are essential for climbing. They're usually designed with minimal padding, the assumption being that you'll hang in your harness little if at all, so comfort can take a back seat to weight. Mountaineers expect to travel in snowy or wet conditions, to take bathroom breaks while still in the harness and to wear the harness over a variety of layers, including taking it on and off over boots and crampons. As a result, mountaineering harnesses are typically made of non-absorbent material, have detachable leg loops to facilitate bathroom breaks, and adjust sufficiently to accommodate a variety of layers.

In winter season 2013/14 I had the opportunity to test The North Face Verto Glacier GTX S6K. Verto S6K model was released in the winter season 2012/2013 and you can tell that it is "older brother" Verto S4K GTX model, dedicated to a height of 6000 meters above sea level row (S4K was at about 4000 meters). TNF company produces shoes in this category just only a few years so I was curious to see how Verto S6K prove themselves.

In spring 2014 I received approach shoes adidas Terrex Scope GTX to review (oryginal text in Polish). Scope has a new Stealth rubber outsole, which is nice on wet and rocky surfaces. But how good is Scope in practice? I invite you to read the test/review.